Pieces of body found on freeway

COLTON - The call came in from a passing motorist that someone had just been struck on the freeway.

These types of accidents are infrequent but what followed was far more bizarre. CHP officers arrived early Saturday. They aimed their cruisers toward the breakdown lane of a nondescript stretch along Interstate 10 and parked.

And there they came upon a grisly scene.

Body parts were strewn across the breakdown lane and adjacent median, which was sparsely covered in grass and weeds. Stranger still was the fact that all they found were pieces of a person's legs.

The torso, arms and head were nowhere to be seen.

The Sheriff's Department sent a helicopter to search for the body from above. A Colton fire engine arrived with infrared scanners to do the same.

"An officer was driving on Valley Boulevard when he saw a car pulling out of a parking lot," said Sgt. Fernando Contreras. "The windshield had a huge hole in it."

The officer stopped the driver, Lawrence Chico, 20, of Rialto, in the lot at Denny's restaurant on West Valley Boulevard near Ninth Street. Chico's mother, whom authorities did not identify, sat in the passenger's seat. Chico immediately cooperated with authorities and led them across the street.
Behind a Mexican steakhouse on the north side of West Valley, authorities found a blue commercial trash bin. Inside was the rest of a woman's body.

"Because of the impact (with Chico's car), it split the woman in half," Contreras said.

Chico explained that he was driving about 70 mph east on I-10, about a half-mile east of Pepper Avenue, when he hit the woman, whose upper body broke through his windshield and landed in the back seat of his 1987 Honda Prelude.

Contreras said Chico likely panicked because he continued to drive to his job at Denny's. Chico deposited the body in the Dumpster and went to work, Contreras said.

At some point, Contreras said, Chico telephoned his mother, who told him he must turn himself in to authorities.

Chico was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.

The woman has not yet been identified, Contreras said, and authorities have no idea why she was on the freeway. She appeared to be about 50 years old.

Employees at Denny's had been told not to speak with reporters. One worker, sitting behind the restaurant with bleary eyes, smoked a cigarette on her break.

"I'm the last person you want to speak with," said the woman, who then stood and disappeared back inside.

Neither Chico nor his relatives could be located Saturday for comment.

Debbie Atkins, a spokeswoman for Denny's corporate headquarters in Spartanburg, S.C., said Chico, who has worked at the Colton restaurant for 11 days, arrived late for his shift Saturday but did not actually work because of the circumstances.

She said restaurant employees are working with authorities, who as of Saturday night were still investigating the case.

"It's a strange one, that's for sure," Contreras said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the county Coroner's Office at (909) 387-2978 in reference to Jane Doe 04-06 or the California Highway Patrol at (909) 388-8000.